| Title |
Assessing Design and Energy Efficiency of Liquid-based Cooling Systems for Data Centers |
| DOI |
https://doi.org/10.5659/JAIK.2024.40.5.145 |
| Keywords |
Data Center; Cooling System; Air-cooling; Liquid-based Cooling; Energy Efficiency; Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) |
| Abstract |
This study explores the design and energy assessment of liquid-based cooling systems to meet the growing demands and high power densities
of IT equipment in data centers. It creates a baseline model for cooling systems to handle a 200 kW ITE equipment load and sets objective
criteria for evaluating cooling energy efficiency. This study identified seven distinct data center workloads and points out the limitations of
traditional air-cooling methods for IT power densities exceeding 50 kW/rack, suggesting a shift to liquid-based alternatives. Liquid-based
cooling systems were classified into three main types: RDEX, plate cooling, and immersion cooling, with specific operational characteristics
depending on the system configuration. To gauge system efficiency, this study introduces the TUE metric, correlating the total energy input
to the data center with the energy used by computing components. An analysis of energy efficiency showed a significant reduction in the
Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE), with immersion cooling achieving an outstanding PUE of 1.05. The TUE metric also revealed considerable
efficiency gains across all liquid-based cooling systems compared to traditional air cooling. This study anticipates a rise in the adoption of
liquid-based cooling systems and stresses the need for universal design criteria, taking into account ITE power density and energy efficiency. |